Basketball Betting Basics

One reason why people love to bet on basketball so much is because it is one of the easiest sports to understand in terms of betting. Basketball commonly uses a simple point spread system to determine winning bets on sides along with a few other easily understood wagers. But even though basketball is one of the easiest sports to bet on, it’s still worth taking a glance at the basics for basketball betting.

The Point Spread

Those who wager on football leagues like the National Football League or NCAA Football should have a quick learning curve for the basketball point spread. Point spreads pick a favorite team that will give up points to an underdog team, and bettors can wager on either team to cover the spread. For instance, if the Los Angeles Lakers are the best team in the league and the Oklahoma Thunder are the worst team in the league then the Lakers would be giving up points to the Thunder. Here’s a look at how this would work:

Los Angeles Lakers -6

Oklahoma Thunder +6

In this example, the Lakers would have to win by more than 6 points for gamblers to win a wager placed on Los Angeles. On the other side, the Thunder would have to lose by less than 6 points for gamblers to win a bet placed on Oklahoma. If the Lakers won by 6 points then the bet would be considered a tie and all money would be returned. In order to avoid ties, many sportsbooks will offer half points on lines since teams can’t score half a point. Here’s an example of that:

Los Angeles Lakers -5.5

Oklahoma Thunder +5.5

Here the Lakers either need to win by 6 points or more for people to win with a wager placed on them or Oklahoma needs to lose by 5 points or less for gamblers to win with them.

One more thing to keep in mind with point spread betting is that you’re normally given 11-10 odds which means you’ll have to bet $110 in order to win $100. The extra $10 is commonly called “juice” or “vig” and is the cut sportsbooks take for providing their services.

Totals Bets

Another kind of bet you’ll commonly see offered in basketball is a totals wager which is also called the over/under. With a totals bet, you’re basically wagering on the combined point totals of both teams at the end of a game. An example would be if a sportsbook laid out a totals wager of 193 points and it would look like this:

Los Angeles Lakers -5.5 Over 193

Oklahoma Thunder +5.5 Under 193

An over/under wager is much like the point spread in that you either want to wager above or below the given numbers. So if you bet on the over, both teams would need to score a combined 194 points or more for you to win. Betting the under would mean both teams need to score 192 points or less for a wining wager. If both teams combined for 193 points then all wagers would be a push and the money would be returned.

Money Line

Point spread and totals bets are the predominant wagers that you’ll see offered in basketball. However, if a third most popular bet had to be picked then it would be the money line wager. Money line bets are simple wagers made on one side or the other to win. But since there is usually a clear favorite to win a basketball game, the money line ensures that you need to risk more to win less when betting on a favorite. Here’s a sample money line:

Cleveland Cavaliers -200

New York Knicks +180

In this example, bettors would have to lay down $200 on the Cavaliers in order to win $100. If a person wagers on the Knicks then they will only risk $100 to win $180. The trade-off here is that Cleveland is favored to win so there is less of a chance for people to profit by going with the New York Knicks.